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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2020

G7's draft coronavirus statement makes no direct calls for fiscal or monetary support: source

Group of Seven nations are drafting a statement outlining a plan to soften the economic hit of the coronavirus but which so far excludes direct calls for new government spending or coordinated central bank rate cuts, a G7 official said Tuesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 3, 2020

Patients with mild symptoms seen spreading viral infections in Japan, experts say

Patients with mild symptoms are believed to be playing an important role in spreading the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a government panel of experts has said.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Mar 3, 2020

Let's discuss whether you want to go to the Olympics

An article reports that Japanese are not as enthused about attending the Games as organizers would like.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 2, 2020

Burden of viral outbreak threatens Abe's government and his legacy

On the road to becoming Japan's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe has overcome countless political perils. He may have met his match with COVID-19.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2020

An end in sight to 'the forever war'?

The U.S. and its partners have invested too much in Afghanistan to walk away without a stable and peaceful future for the country.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2020

As COVID-19 spikes, so does global instability

If the virus outbreak dramatically dents global economic growth, perhaps even producing a recession, that will likely raise the political temperature almost everywhere.
Japan Times
SPORTS
Mar 2, 2020

NPB and J. League join forces to combat COVID-19

Nippon Professional Baseball and the J. League, two of Japan's biggest professional sports circuits, will form a tag team amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the two entities announced in a Tokyo news conference on Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2020

Negative U.S. yields in sight as virus spurs recession bets

With a flurry of fresh COVID-19 cases and early signs of how severe the hit on the global economy could be, seasoned strategists are now warning that U.S. growth could come to a halt this year and that some Treasury yields may drop below zero — possibly as soon as this week.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2020

'Moment of truth:' Pete Buttigieg drops out of Democratic race two days before Super Tuesday

Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday, saying he no longer saw a change of winning, the day after fellow moderate Joe Biden won a big victory in South Carolina.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 1, 2020

The persecution and lonely death of a Uyghur scholar

How Japanese supporters worked to secure the freedom of imprisoned Uighur scholar Tohti Tunyaz is a story worth telling.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 1, 2020

South Korea closes churches as coronavirus tally passes 3,700

Churches were closed in South Korea on Sunday with many holding online services instead as authorities fought to rein in public gatherings, with 586 new coronavirus infections taking the tally to 3,736 cases.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 1, 2020

Armed conflict response fears linger as MSDF's Middle East mission starts

With the Maritime Self-Defense Force having fully started its information-gathering mission in the Middle East as part of the effort to ensure sea lane safety there, concerns over what its contingent can effectively do to that end—given its operational limits—continue to grip the government.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2020

SDF toughens penalties for power harassment and bullying as recruitment lags in Japan

The Self-Defense Forces will introduce on Sunday stricter punishment standards for power harassment and bullying.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2020

How far can Japan go to curb the coronavirus outbreak? Not as far as you may think

What some critics slam as Japan's lax initial response has highlighted the more draconian steps countries other than China are taking to contain the crisis.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 1, 2020

Overlooked no more: 'Malay first' Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin takes the reins in Malaysia

Long overshadowed by colorful contemporaries, the man who emerged from a week of turmoil as Malaysia's new prime minister on Sunday is a publicity-shy picture of conservatism.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 29, 2020

In dramatic broadcast, Abe asks public to fight virus and announces steps to ease pain of school closures

Addressing a nation gripped by uncertainty, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday made a televised appeal for public cooperation in the "fight against the invisible and unknown virus" and tried to soften the blow from his government's abrupt and disruptive containment measures.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 29, 2020

Who really controls the airspace over central Japan?

A good portion of the airspace over central Japan has been reserved for the exclusive use of the U.S. military since the end of World War II, a fact that isn't widely known in Japan. Over the past several weeks, however, it has become a sudden reality to thousands of Tokyoites and residents of Kawasaki...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 29, 2020

New coronavirus case of unknown origin emerges in California as U.S. looks to curtail infections

The United States will invoke a federal defense law to boost production of masks, gloves, gowns and other items to protect against the new coronavirus, the Trump administration said, as a new case of unknown origin was confirmed in California on Friday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2020

Iran can't be trusted to deal with coronavirus

The regime's dishonesty and indifference threaten the region and the world
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2020

Vietnam reduces plan to build new coal plants amid fiscal and environmental concerns

Vietnam is scaling back a plan to build new coal plants, as financial restrictions and local environmental concerns increase the difficulty and complexity of constructing such facilities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2020

Over 1,400 Japan Post workers improperly sold insurance products, probe finds

The Japan Post Holdings Co. group said Thursday it had confirmed Japan Post Insurance Co. products were sold improperly by 1,447 post office workers.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2020

Tokyo Disneyland joins long list of establishments and events hit by COVID-19

With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe having asked organizers of big sporting and cultural events scheduled for the next two weeks to consider canceling, postponing or downsizing them during what is seen as a critical time for stemming the spread of COVID-19 infections, the list of closed facilities and canceled...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past